— act two, scene fourteen: old times sake

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     "See you later," Megara waved to Phillip as she passed him on her way to the girls' designated dressing room for the show.  Her smile slowly faded as she noticed Ricky was already there, standing around by her backpack.

     "Hey," he said softly.  "I didn't know you knew Phillip."

     "Not really, just from physics class," Megara pressed her lips together.  "What's up?"

     Ricky took a deep breath.  Oh, where to begin after a night like the one they had just been through?  Although, he had to argue that every day since they came back into each other's lives had been eventful.  He settled on, "Nothing."

     Megara nodded, noticing how he was leaning against the table next to her jacket and bag.  "You still on edge?  It's okay to say yes."

     Ricky snickered.  "No, I'm uh... I'm better now, thanks."

     "Yeah, of course."

     "All of your tips and tricks and advice really paid off," Ricky said.  "Who's gonna be your next charity case?"

     "Anyone as long as I don't have to go through rehearsing with you ever again?" Megara leaned her hip against the table in the room as she crossed her arms over her chest.

     "Yeah?" Ricky asked, nodding his head as he looked straight down into her daring eyes.  "You could enter a competition and win the biggest loser in Salt Lake City," he placed his left palm down flat against the table and gained his composure back as he could feel himself leaning forward and into her body.

     "You must win that award a lot, huh?" Megara cocked her head sideways, but to her surprise again, his eyes never deterred from her figure.

     Slowly, she recognized how close in proximity they were.  Sure, they had been used to walking with hands intertwined, spent the last couple of months pressing kisses to each other's cheeks, and even fallen asleep next to each other.  But something about this moment was different, and it was evident by the wild look in Ricky's eyes as he stared down at her.

     She must have looked confused to him as she was taken by surprise, and although her plump lips parted slightly as if she might add on another snarky comment, she didn't.  She just stood there, chest rising and falling as her tan arms were crossed over it.  She could feel Ricky's warm breath on her cheek, he was so close she could smell him.  It wasn't Throb, it was something better than Throb — like warm cinnamon and vanilla.

     To be fair, the ball was fully in Ricky's court.  She watched him with wide, curious eyes for a long moment, trying to read his mind.  He could have done nearly anything at that moment and she would have tolerated it.  Better than that, she would have allowed it.

     Finally, after a long and quiet moment of waiting, she cleared her throat.  "Whatever, I should go get changed."

     Ricky nodded.  "Yeah, um, you should go do that," he said through a painfully dry throat.  After she turned her back to him, he came back to his senses.  For a moment, it felt like he couldn't breathe, even though he was well aware of the time passing.  Megara just had that effect on him, even though he hated it.

     His fingers lay near her jacket, and then he remembered the note he had given to her that morning.  Had she read it already?  Was that why she grabbed an attitude with him right after the show?  He couldn't take that chance, and before he knew it, his nimble fingers were creeping into the pocket and gently taking the folded piece of notebook paper.

     "What took you guys so long?" Savannah approached the two as they were the last to meet up with their friend group.  While Ricky was wearing a tee shirt and jeans, Megara was wearing a pair of red plaid pajama pants with a cozy white long sleeve.  The grin on her face dropped.  "Ew, you guys weren't like, making out in a corner somewhere, were you?"

     "Not at all," Ricky and Megara quickly started defending themselves and shaking their head.

     Megara cleared her throat quietly.  "It's um... not what you think."

     "You did so great pumpkin!" Megara's dad's voice rang from a couple of yards away.  Megara turned and smiled at the man in his usual suit and tie, this time with a large coat for the cold weather, making his way towards the three teens.

     "You made it!" Megara exclaimed, throwing her hands around her dad's torso.  "Thank you, thank you, thank you."

     "That was incredible!  You kids are stars," Megara's dad said before pointing his finger at Savannah.  "Kid, I've been telling your parents to move you to LA since... since I don't know when."

     Since their parents knew each other, Savannah had always kind of been in the picture, but they only became closer on their own after Megara's parents divorced.  Savannah was a go-getter, much like her own parents, in the sense that she was active in clubs for school and always put her best foot forward, that sort of thing.  Even though they were wildly different sometimes, Megara was still glad to have her around.

     Savannah beamed.  "Thanks, Mr. Montez."

    "Guys, get together for a picture," Mr. Montez said, fumbling to grab the iPhone from his coat pocket.

     "Ah dad, I wish you'd asked for some before I changed," Megara motioned to her pajama bottoms.

     Mr. Montez waved his hand.  "Ah, don't worry, I got the video on my recorder.  I found it in the garage last week," he smiled.

     Megara turned around to see Ricky still standing right there.  "Only if you want to," she shrugged, with very minimal eye contact.

     Ricky's eyes lingered on her stiff figure for a moment before ultimately deciding on throwing his arm around her shoulders once more, gently tugging her frame closer to his torso.  The feeling she got when he left her side during Breaking Free was suddenly undone as she felt all the warmth of his body come back to her.  "Of course, for old times' sake."

     "Yeah, for old times' sake," Savannah giggled and playfully rolled her eyes as she wrapped her arm around Megara's waist on the other side of her.

     "Alright..." her dad pressed a couple of buttons on his screen before holding the phone perfectly still.  "Perfect kiddos, perfect.  Ready, on three..."

     The three smiled for a couple of brief photos before deciding they were good, but their peace was interrupted just as quickly as they had gotten it.  "Megara, get over here!" Rita waved the girls over, embracing them in another series of photos for her family.  Naturally, Mr. Montez gravitated toward Rita and KC's parents too.

     Quite a couple of yards but half a world away, Nini was in a completely different mindset after receiving the phone number to the Conservatory from the school she had her eye on.  KC's hand on her shoulder picked her heart rate up, as the brunette had temporarily forgotten where she was.  "You ready to get going?" KC asked before walking ahead of her, saying her own hellos and goodbyes and congratulations to some of the other castmates in the lobby of their beloved East High.

     Even though they weren't a couple anymore, Nini and Ricky both felt like they were right back to where they were before — confused about everything they thought they once knew.  They watched as the people closest to them went on with their evening, lazily hugging their neighbors and passing compliments.

     For Nini, was there anything holding her down to Salt Lake anymore?

     And as for Ricky, was he making a mistake?  Was he reading her cues right?  There was no way she would want him to kiss her, right?  He glanced back towards the small group of theater kids to see that she was waving him in for a group photo with slightly messy hair, no trace of the false eyelashes from earlier, and slightly droopy eyes — he could tell right then she was gonna fall asleep as soon as she got home.  He just hoped it would be next to him, at least for a little while longer.

#JJ
thank you for reading Operation: Heart Stealer!
sequel is out in a couple of days xo